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While Verizon Wireless is moving to throttle bandwidth hogs on its mobile network, a scrappy T-Mobile is taking on the giants with a limited-time promotion it hopes will drive up the churn rates of its wireless rivals.

Specifically, T-Mobile is offering a deal that gives mobile consumers unlimited talk and text, along with 10 GB of LTE across devices. The cost: $100. That’s $25 per line and is likely to turn the heads of mobile-hungry families.

In his usual tongue-in-check style, T-Mobile CEO John Legere targeted AT&T in the promotion. His latest blog post mocks AT&T’s “best ever deal for families" with a hearty “LOL.” Indeed, he said he just had to laugh.

In the ongoing battle to meet the ever-increasing consumer demand for high-speed data networks, Verizon Wireless made a move that might cause some of its customers to move to one of its rivals. The wireless carrier has announced that it is throttling data speeds on unlimited 4G plans to handle that demand.

You Do the Math

“Leaving my office last week, I pulled alongside a bus covered with yet another ad for AT&T’s ‘Best-Ever Pricing’ for families. These ads are everywhere. AT&T’s sinking some serious dough into marketing their latest-greatest family pricing, which strikes me as funny,” Legere said. “Because their deal is no deal at all, and next to T-Mobile’s Simple Choice Family Plan, AT&T’s ‘Best-Ever Pricing for Families’ is a joke.”

As Legere tells it, when he pulled up to the ad he knew his company was about to blow his rival’s “best-ever” deal out of the water. Starting on July 30 and running through September, T-Mobile will essentially offer four family members 2.5 GB each of data until 2016.

“So, here’s the math: AT&T’s ‘Best-Ever Pricing’ four lines for $160 vs four lines for $100 with T-Mobile -- with unlimited talk, text, and data plus up to 10 GB of LTE data on our data-strong network,” he said. “Plus, their ‘Best-Ever’ deal comes with a boatload of crap -- domestic overages, international roaming fees, hidden device subsidy costs, and on and on.”

Strong Words for AT&T

Legere, though, didn’t stop there. He pointed out that it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that T-Mobile’s plan saves consumers $60 a month for a family of four. And that, he continued, adds up to $1,440 over a two-year period. AT&T could not immediately be reached for comment, even though Legere is egging the company on.

“It infuriates me that they’re selling this to hardworking families who could use that money for more important things,” Legere said. “And they have the nerve to call it ‘Best-Ever Pricing.’ I just couldn’t stand by without speaking up and calling them on their BS.”

Some don’t have a taste for Legere’s tactics but they seem to be working -- at least from a promotional perspective. T-Mobile added 1.3 million new monthly subscribers in its first quarter, although the company posted its fourth straight quarterly financial loss.

“T-Mobile’s current subscriber momentum is undeniable,” Craig Moffett, founder of research firm MoffettNathanson LLC, said in a note today. “Competitively, the change is mind-boggling.”

I tried T-Mobile for a bit. But, I found out they throttle data after the first gig or so. It's buried deep in the fine print. And their service coverage was abysmal. And yeah, the cost of the phones. Their customer service was a nightmare to deal with. Happy with AT&T currently. Nice balance of coverage and cost.

mike:

Posted: 2014-07-29 @ 10:14am PT

TMO's fine print says after the first 16 months that the data drops to 4GB. So you're paying $100/month for 1GB per line. Also TMO's 10GB is NOT shared. It's 2.5 GB per line. Read the fine print for anyone wanting to jump to TMO. And don't forget the added monthly phone cost for each line, unless you bring your own UNLOCKED GSM phone.

Lynn:

Posted: 2014-07-29 @ 5:29am PT

I got a tmobile plan in july 2013. Went on a trip to Oregon and Washington. My phone would not work in the boonies even though it was suppose to switch over to the at&t towers. My wife's tracfone worked fine in the boonies using at&t towers I believe. I dumped the service.

Kris:

Posted: 2014-07-29 @ 5:28am PT

I have to heartily disagree with T-Mobile not using failed acquisition money on their network; it was almost immediately afterwards that they began implementation of their LTE network. Although they're only available in major cities (where a greater percent of the nation's population live), the speeds are higher than the other big 3. Be it because of less subscribers using less bandwidth or better equipment, either way, where T-Mobile customers have service, they're much happier with cheaper bills and faster connections than the other guys.

Shorn:

Posted: 2014-07-29 @ 5:17am PT

yeah their deal might be better than ATTs, but I'll take Verizon's coverage any day. I'm not going back to GSM phones.

No T-mobile:

Posted: 2014-07-29 @ 5:14am PT

I have had both AT&T and T-mobile. The main difference between the two was that T-mobile often had hidden, erroneous and downright illegal charges and pricing strategies. On more than one occasion, our phone settings would be reset to use the data service where we had specified wifi only. One time they had a phone upgrade with a price. In the small print, it said a data plan upgrade may be required with this phone. When I called to find out if a plan upgrade was required, I was told I had to order the phone first to find out. In other words, there was no way to know how much you would be charged for the phone until after you ordered it. While under contract, I filed several complaints with legal agencies about their practices. That was the only way to get their attention. Contrastingly, my AT&T bill was always as expected and as per the plan. T-mobile will never be an option for this family.

Double L:

Posted: 2014-07-29 @ 5:07am PT

I've had T-Mobile since returning from overseas deployment in 2012. I've since driven coast to coast, twice, and never had an issue. I have an older no-contract pre-pay plan for $30/month. It isn't unlimited data but I am happy with it.

Martyn:

Posted: 2014-07-29 @ 5:07am PT

I'm happy with T- Mobile. I was with Vzn, AT&T and Sprint. VZn expensive, AT&T not impressive for the buck, Sprint poor service with slow connection.T-Mobile worth the money and very good data speed. Satisfied so far.

Dennis Young:

Posted: 2014-07-29 @ 4:54am PT

I don't care what kind of plan they offer as they are all overpriced. I don't see any plans for a family of Two!

Fran:

Posted: 2014-07-29 @ 4:43am PT

Go for it. AT&T Sucks

donmarkoff:

Posted: 2014-07-29 @ 4:38am PT

I love and always will love T MO

jporter:

Posted: 2014-07-29 @ 4:32am PT

I would switch to tmobile from at&t in a heartbeat if they had better coverage in my area. Hopefully they will keep improving their network and expanding coverage.

Verizon loyal:

Posted: 2014-07-29 @ 4:26am PT

I switched to T Mobile and had to go back to Verizon. My T Mobile phone didn't work in places my Verizon phone did - major airports and my work office which is in the middle of a good location according to company maps

Justin:

Posted: 2014-07-29 @ 4:24am PT

T-Mobile should make sure their network can actually back up this CEO. I recently switched from Verizon to T-Mobile, and I cannot wait to pay off my phones and go back. Verizon might be more money, but at least it will work. Unlimited 4G doesn't help me when it doesn't work 80% of the time I need it to.

MJ:

Posted: 2014-07-29 @ 4:24am PT

You get free phones with ATT. You have to pay monthly for T-Mobile phones. So it evens out.

Paul:

Posted: 2014-07-29 @ 4:23am PT

I've been a T-Mobile customer for 6 months now. Great service, great rates , and great tech support. No complaints.

doesnt matter:

Posted: 2014-07-29 @ 4:16am PT

T mobiles data coverage sucks, so its no deal when u cant even use ur phone for internet and data across much of the country

Laura:

Posted: 2014-07-29 @ 4:15am PT

That's a great price for a family plan. Unfortunately TMobile coverage sucks. What good is a plan when you can't use your phone? Lesson learned while I was up in the Smokey Mountains, TN on vacation and I got a flat tire. Thank goodness my travel companion had AT&T to get help because it took me 2 days to get a signal!!! I'll pay more for service.

jimmy:

Posted: 2014-07-29 @ 4:13am PT

@nick
My experience was quite the opposite. Last year I traveled from Virginia to California through the mid west with a brand new T-Mobile hotspot, I think we had service for a total of 5 hours out of the 40 it took to drive one way. I was forced to go back to at&t after that miserable experience.

mar malone:

Posted: 2014-07-29 @ 4:10am PT

Cram it LeGere, you goofball.

DJ:

Posted: 2014-07-29 @ 3:38am PT

I would love to see a plan from the big guys that offered unlimited talk & text, and maybe .5 to .75Gb data at a reasonable cost for families. Then offer options of either throttled data, or much more expensive plans. If you need a lot of data - pay for it. But to get any at all for the occasional e-mail or weather check is cost prohibitive. Hence, I am still on a "dumb" phone. The luxury of a smart phone does not make fiscal sense for me, and coverage is a concern in my area if I leave Big Red.

john:

Posted: 2014-07-29 @ 3:15am PT

Why stay with Verizon or AT&T.. They say we have the best network but you can't use it, use your home network.

RK:

Posted: 2014-07-29 @ 3:10am PT

But The offer is for just one and half year, ending in January, 2016, then how can one save $1440 over two year ?...............telecomvibe[dot]com

Heavy:

Posted: 2014-07-29 @ 2:46am PT

a savings of 1440 over a 2 year period. but no phone subsidy. that means shelling out 1600 for 4 decent smart phones on smaller network. no thank you

Bob:

Posted: 2014-07-29 @ 2:36am PT

AT&T is a horrible company. They have 100 year history of ripping off their customers whenever possible.

Daniel:

Posted: 2014-07-29 @ 2:26am PT

Maybe in big cities but T-Mobile service area is just not as good as AT&T and Verizon.

Richard:

Posted: 2014-07-29 @ 1:54am PT

If T-Mobil had 10 devices for the $100.00 I may consider changing after some research to find out how strong your network is. I was given a 3G MicroCell to enhance AT&T single here in my home, due to the fact I had such a poor signal, I am disabled and a Veteran on a liver transplant and have to have the best possible signal while I await that phone call. I also assist my family by supporting them by adding devices to my account for them, I currently have 7 devices on my account, 1 iPad, 5 iPhone's, 1 regular cell phone. So my account has 7 out of the 10 devices allowed, but AT&T has been trying to change the price on me from $15.00 per device to $40.00 under a lie that it was a promotional thing. When it wasn't, they responded to yours or Sprints $15.00 monthly fee's at one time in the past, now they're trying to screw me and take or change it to $40.00 and I have to call them every month and fight with them to take that extra $25.00 off of my iPhone line for my son, they tell me it was a new line. Again another lie, I've had that line since 2007 when I transferred into AT&T after they purchase Cellular One. So I currently am allowed 10 lines at $160.00 for the unlimited talk, txt and 10 gigs. I hate AT&T, but haven't found anyone with a network as strong as theirs.

BB10:

Posted: 2014-07-29 @ 1:06am PT

Sounds like Chris had to think a bit too hard to come up with something negative to say.

For a family having 10GB to share, means two kids can spend most of that data plan, while parents work hard to pay for bills, and don't need as much of the GB.

For a family on a budget, it really is a much better deal.
T-Mobile does have great plans, they do ruffle feathers in the industry, and even if someone is not a customer of theirs, one still need to appreciate them pushing prices down, and not treating the business like it's an oligopoly.

FkThesePhoneCOmpanies:

Posted: 2014-07-29 @ 1:05am PT

10 GB FOR 4 LINES? Bull!
T-Mobile only gives you 1GB PER LINE! This article is BS!
I got T-Mobile, I pay $90 for 3 lines with unlimited talk, text, and 1GB DATA per line.
After taxes and fees, I pay $114.56/month
Plus I have to pay almost $65/month for 3 galaxy s4's. So total I pay about $180/month for 3 galaxy s4's with 1GB data each. Plus I had to pay $200 up front for each phone! THESE PHONE COMPANIES ARE A RIPOFF! I'm paying damn near $200/month I should get UNLIMITED DATA!

jamin:

Posted: 2014-07-29 @ 1:04am PT

At&t sucks!!! They screwed us on warranty crap and insurance stuff we have been paying for it since day one, and when we needed it they said oh you're warranty is void and the phone isn't covered because the headphones you received with your phone were a piece of crap and broke so it is considered physical damage. Screw at&t and their high prices and crappy customer service. Don't use the service unless you like to get ripped off and taken advantage of.

Woodwind:

Posted: 2014-07-29 @ 1:02am PT

When Verizon threatened to throttle 4G users, I dropped them like a hot potato and headed straight to T Mobile. For all of Verizon's coverage claims, I've found that T Mobile covers the areas where I go better than Verizon anyway.

King:

Posted: 2014-07-29 @ 12:53am PT

Tmobile may not have the best low frequency bandwidth, but they have the best customer service. My company moved to a new office location and the new build shielded almost all the cellular signal from penetrating the building. Several us employees complain to our IT department with no success. Their response was that Tmobile was not the company's official carrier even though they supported a BYOD program. So I did a little research and found that there is a wireless cellfi product that you can plug in as a repeater that can support up to 60 users. Even better, when I called tmobile to explain the problem they send a box for just the cost of shipping. They would only ship one for free though. Since one was not enough to cover the entire build some of my other office colleague that had tmobile as well called and received cellfi. We have most of the key areas in the building covered with 4G network.

Some of my colleague had AT&T, and they called them to see if they would provide such a solution. AT&T responded that they would have to pay for the boxes. So now, I see those users standing by the window just to get some coverage. They are definitely bummed out.

Xman:

Posted: 2014-07-29 @ 12:45am PT

Don't believe the hype.

Tony:

Posted: 2014-07-29 @ 12:45am PT

Anybody post this up on WOOT! yet? Go T-Mobile

Sean:

Posted: 2014-07-29 @ 12:38am PT

T-Mobile is awesome! I've been with them since 2003 and have never looked back. Next question is... Who is going to offer %100 non-throttled data for $XX a month? Who ever it is I will jump ship!

Marco Cassina:

Posted: 2014-07-29 @ 12:30am PT

What kind of a puff piece is this? Are you on T-Mobile's payroll? If T-Mobile has a better plan than AT&T then just say so. But you put 'BS' in a headline? Oh for shame. How about a little integrity?

nick:

Posted: 2014-07-28 @ 10:06pm PT

Since the day I landed in USA, I have been using tmobile. It's been 7 years now. Tmobile never disappointed me. I went from the east to west to grand canyon. I was always happy with the service.

Chris:

Posted: 2014-07-28 @ 3:29pm PT

A family of four often doesn't need 4 devices connected. If you look at a family with 2 devices connected, you're looking at a $30 difference. The question is whether or not network quality, speed, and availability are worth $30 a month or not. TMobile is spending all its "failed merger money" on customer acquisition, and none on their network. Why? Because its wants to become a better merger target for another company. Foolish approach from a company that is going to make their customers' lives worse by over congesting their paltry bandwidth.